HIST351: Islam, The Middle East, and The West

Unit 1: Islamic CivilizationIslam first arrived on the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century.
But before its appearance, the tribal societies living on the Arabian
Peninsula—the Bedouin—embraced polytheistic or animistic religious
beliefs. Bedouin clans, the nomadic societies built around goat and
camel herding, populated the desert. Towns and cities, including Mecca,
were dependent upon alliances with the neighboring Bedouin tribes. When
Muhammad began preaching his “revelations” in the 600s, he encountered
hostility and criticism from many Arab communities. However, the
Bedouin eventually became enthusiastic converts to Islam—a
universalizing faith that united disparate Arab tribes.
In this unit, we will study the culture and religion of the Bedouin
tribes of Arabia. We will then examine the effects that Muhammad’s
conversion efforts had among the Bedouin in the seventh century.

Unit 1 Time Advisory
This unit will take you approximately 9 hours to complete.

☐ Subunit 1.1: 4 hours

☐ Subunit 1.2: 5 hours

Unit1 Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

Identify and describe the nature of pre-Islamic society, culture,
and religion.

Describe the subsequent rise of the prophet Muhammad and his
monotheistic religion, Islam.

Identify and describe the elements of Islamic law, religious texts
and practices, and belief systems.

Reading: The University of Calgary: The Applied History Research
Group’s The Islamic World to 1600: “The Roman and Byzantine
Empires,” “Ancient Persia,” “The Sassanid Empire,” and “The Arabian
Peninsula.”
Link: The University of Calgary: The Applied History Research
Group’s The Islamic World to 1600: “The Roman and Byzantine
Empires,”
“Ancient
Persia,”
“Sassanid
Empire,”
and “Arabian
Peninsula”
(All HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entirety of this webpage, which
offers a brief overview of the Roman and Byzantine Empires and their
relationship to the pre-Islamic Middle East as well as short
political histories of the Persian and Sassanid empires. You can
toggle between chapters by clicking on the rightward facing arrow at
the bottom of each page.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

[iBook](http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/HIST351-1.1-Pre-Islamic-Arabia-Wikipedia.epub)
Instructions: Please read the entirety of this entry in order to
get a better understanding of Pre-Islamic Arabia. This link
addresses subsections 1.1.1 through 1.1.5.
Terms of Use: The Wikipedia article above is released under a
[Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License
3.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) (HTML). You
can find the original version of this article
[here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Islamic_Arabia) (HTML).

Instructions: Please read the entirety of this webpage
(“Introduction,” “The Poem of Imru-ul-Quais,” “The Poem of Antar,”
and “The Poem of Zuhair”); these poems will serve as excellent
introductions to pre-Islamic Arab poetry.

Note on the text: The emergence of Islam in the seventh century
meant that the Arabic language replaced many ethnic languages and
regional dialects across the Middle East. However, while the
Islamic text of the Qur’an is thought to be one of the first texts
written in Arabic, many examples of Arabic literature predated it.
The “hanged poems,” for example, covered the walls of the “ka-aba,”
or cubic temple in Mecca, before the establishment of a widespread
Muslim order.

Terms of Use: This material is part of the public domain.

1.1.2 Bedouin Clans1.1.3 Towns and Trade1.1.4 Society and Family1.1.5 Religion1.2 Origins of Islam
- Reading: University of Notre Dame: “The Life of the Prophet, The
Spread of Islam”
Link: University of Notre Dame: “The Life of the Prophet, The
Spread of
Islam” (HTML)

Instructions: As you read, consider the following questions:
Describe the nature of Muhammad’s early life and his activities.
When and where did Muhammad have his first revelation? When and why
did Muhammad begin to preach publicly? How did the Quraysh tribe
respond to Muhammad’s preaching and why? What does the date 622 A.D.
signify in Islamic chronology? What is the significance of Medina to
the spread of Islam?

Instructions: Please watch the entire 55-minute documentary for a
comprehensive introduction to Islam and its founder, the prophet
Muhammad. This documentary explores subsections 1.2.1 through 1.2.4
as well as 2.1.1 through 2.3.1.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

1.2.1 Pressures from Byzantium and the Sassanid Empire1.2.2 Monotheism of Christianity and Judaism1.2.3 Rise of Muhammad1.2.4 Converts and Conflicts